Fruit and vegetable spout



5, 1932- J. A. STURTZ 1,839,712

FRUIT AND VEGETABLE SPOUI Filed Sept. 27. 1930 Zmnentor Gttorneg 50 bands 11 and 12 encircling the same and being The straps or hands 11 and 12 circumscribe 1 Patented Jan. 5, 1932 s'rn'r zs PATENT FFlCE JAMES A. STTJ'RTZ, F ALBERT LEA, MINNESOTA FRUIT AND VEGETABLE SPOUT Application filed September 27, 1930. Serial No. 484,888.

The present invention relatesto improvesecured thereto. The upper band, preferably ments in fruit and vegetable spout, and has of leather, is secured to the upper edge of the for an object to provide a spout through tubular section 10 as by sewing; and the lower which fruit and vegetables may be loaded into band 12, also preferably of leather, is also 5 suitable receptacles without bruising the stitched to the canvas section at an approsame. 7 pria-te distance above its lower edge, suiticient Another object of the invention is to pro to leave a flap or skirt 13 designed to be intervide an improved sectional spout, which may fitted with the next section below, whereby to be assembled in any desired length whereby close the joints between the sections, andform 10 fruit and vegetables may be lowered from a acontinuous spout. Y considerable elevation, while breaking the Stays 141 of leather or other appropriate fall of the material and causing it to quietly material extend between the bands 11 and 12, descend to the depository. and are secured thereto, as by theme of rivets,

A further object of the invention is to conor other appropriate fastenings. These stays 15 struct an economical spout in which the sec 14 may be in any suitable number about the tions may be added to as desired, and quickcircumference of the sections. At the lower 1y assembled into the requisite length of and upper ends of the stays 14, or upon the spout. bands 11 and 12, are provided fastening de- With the foregoing and other objects in vices, consisting in the instance shown of 20 view, the invention will be more fully derings 15 and hooks 16. The rings are shown scribed hereinafter, and will be more paras at the lower portions of the sections, while ticularly pointed out in the claim appended the hooks 16 are at the upper portionsof the hereto. sections; except that the uppermost section In the drawings, wherein like symbols remaybe provided with rings 17, as indicated 7 7 for to like or corresponding parts throughin Figure 1, to cooperate with the supports 9. out the several views, \Vithin the section body 10 is provided a Figure 1 is a fragmentary vertical section canvas or other pocket or diaphragm 18, through a warehouse and bin with the imwhich is stitched, or otherwise secured, to the proved spout shown mounted in four sections. canvas body 10, and is made of a generally 30 Figure 2 is an enlarged top plan iew circular form, as indicated in Figure 2, havshowing one of th se tions, ing a segmental opening 19 at one side. As Figure 3 is a side view of the same, and Shown in Figures 3 and 4, the partition or Figure 4 is a section taken on the line 4t dlaphragm IS-preferably slopes from a high of Figure 2, point at its closed side downwardly tothe,

Referring more particularly to th drawopening 19. The inclination given will be ings, the device is adapted to be used in warepreferably g l P QS to the fleXilQlLPl houses, or other p1aoo ,havi g an upper flo character of the partition 18, the same will 5 with an opening 6 through which the spout g, as llldloatedlnFigure 4, with the weight is adapted to descend and below which is Of the materlal, WlllCll Will further reduce the 40 disposed a bin or other depository 7 located P C611t 0f the inclination and cause such on the floor 8 below. material to slide slowly and easily down the The improved spout may be supported by PilItitiOn to the opening 19.

the rods or other supports 9, and as many It will be understood that the sections of sections of the s out a r quir d may b the chute or spout may be made in any devid d, sired size as to diameter and length of section. 95

Figures 2, 3 and 4 Show th onst u tion f I have found that a diameter of elghteen the sections. inches and a length of one foot for each sec- In the preferred form, a tube 10 01": canvas, tion is convenient and possesses large capacor other flexible material, is provided with ity.

the tube or section 10 at top and bottom, and are designed to make the section rigid in open position, and they also act as adequate reinforcements. These bands 11 and 12 may be of two-inch leather strap.

It will be apparent from Figure 1 that, where more than one section is to be used, the sections are so connected and interlocked that the openings 19 in the sections are relatively reversed. In other words, the opening 19 in one section will be disposed above the highest i portion of the pocket or diaphragm 18 of the next lower succeeding section. This will cause the openings 19 to be placed in staggered relation down through the various sect-ions.

This relative arrangement will enable the fruit and vegetables being conveyed through the spout to strike the sloping canvas 18 of the first section, roll down through the opening 19 and drop upon the highest portion of t r16 reversed canvas pocket 18 in the second canvas section. This action will alternate the full length of the spout and the drop atno time will exceed, say for example, six inches.

The bruising of the fruit and vegetables is thereby avoided.

In Figure 1, the device is shown as attached to a potato grader on the ground floor-of a potato warehouse. A. sufiicient number of sections is attached to reach from the grader through a trap-door 6 to a potato bin 7 in the basement. The bottom section frequently reaches the floor of the bin. As the bin fills and the level of the potatoes rises, one at a time, the sections of the spout may be detached.

It will be noted that the spout is .completely closed throughout all its sections, and therefore, the fruit, vegetables and other material are not enabled to jump over the edges of the spout sections, which results in bruising a high percentage of the product, thus entailing serious financial loss. The spout being made entirely of canvas or leather-has no hard surface with which the fruit or vegetables can come in contact.

Of course, it will be understood that the diameter and length of the sections may be varied to meet difierent requirements.

' The canvas pocket may be set at any de-, sired angle, and the opening of the pocket in each section of the spout may be made larger or smaller.

The flap or skirt at the bottom of each section fits inside of each succeeding section, and the top leather belt of the second section fits up snugly to the lower belt of the preceding section, thus forming a completely closed spout from top to bottom.

Thesections may be detached at any time, and this is a very desirable feature.

It will be obvious that various changes in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts could be made, which could be used without departing from the spirit of my invention, and I do not mean to limit the invention to such details, except as particularly pointed out in the claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1- An article of manufacture providing a semi-rigid spout comprising a plurality of sections capable of being folded both longitudinallyand circumferentially, each composed of canvas tubular bodies, canvas sloping partitions sewed within each body, and having segmental openings at their lower parts, leather bands extending about said canvas bodies, oneband extending about and sewed to the upper marginal edge of the body, the second band sewed to the body above the lower edge thereof leaving a skirt for fitting within the next lower section, leather braces secured between said bands, and hooks and rings carried by said braces for interlocking to secure a number of the sections together.

JAMES A. STURTZ. 

